ROLL over Beethoven. A group of schoolchildren have written a symphony in celebration of one of Manchester's most overlooked districts.

For centuries, composers have drawn inspiration from famous cities and picturesque landscapes.

But composer Barry Russell teamed-up with pupils from Medlock Primary School, in Ardwick, to produce a tribute to the area of east Manchester.

The musical journey will take the listener from the area's murky past as an industrial centre, through two world wars, to an imaginary future setting where Mancunians live underground and in space.

Pupils had to carry out their own research into the area's history in order to sing its praises.

They looked at the dangerous conditions faced by Victorian factory workers as well as the part large numbers of young men from the district played in the First World War.

Mr Russell, who has written for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, visited pupils in each year group and asked them to come up with sounds they felt represented events in Ardwick's history.

In addition, each youngsters was given their own musical `codename' - a distinctive set of chords - which were incorporated into the 50-minute symphony, entitled Where We Are Coming From and Where We Are Going.

New building

Headteacher Fiona Maguire said the study of history was particularly important to pupils as they would soon be saying goodbye to their century-old school and moving into a new building.

She said: "The symphony allowed the children to express their emotions regarding their community and the school's past and present."

More than 100 children worked with musicians at the city's Royal Northern College of Music, which organised the project, to rehearse the piece before its premiere at the college.

A spokesman for the college said: "The children looked at the theme of time travel and imagined they were travelling from the area's Victorian past.

"They then move to the First World War when lots of young men were going to war and there is very distinctive military music and then on to the future."

The history of Ardwick can be traced to the 13th century, where a village of that name sat between Manchester and Stockport.

It was regarded as a middle-class suburb until the dawn of the industrial age when factories, rail works and warehouses sprung into being.